Cross

Fragrance of the Sacrifice

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

And live a life of love just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

I have often wondered about the prayer Jesus prayed in Gethsemane. The awesome power that Jesus had to command wind and waves and to raise the dead was humbled in His plea to be delivered from the cross. He could have miraculously hidden himself again or struck down a thousand soldiers by a word and yet He struggled and sweat blood as He yielded Himself to His Father’s will and the shame and suffering that lay ahead.

He could have prayed; “I know I have to die so let’s just get this over.” In sullen acceptance, but instead He yielded His heart in love. How often I have prayed and given grudgingly but without surrender? I dodge the bullet of disobedience but miss the mark of true sacrifice.

But because Jesus gave His life in loving obedience, Peter was brought to full repentance, Nicodemus had opportunity to be courageous and a thief was brought to paradise. A rich man had the chance to learn how to give and just three days later Mary Magdalene got to be the first to see Him risen and alive. These all received because Jesus gave himself willingly. They became a part of the fragrance of the offering of Jesus. So what about this morning? Will we surrender whatever is in our hands today to God? Will we willingly let go of what is ours to gain something for others? Will we surrender and follow our Lord and offer a sacrifice with a sweet fragrance to God today?

The Beauty of Sunsets

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV

Unless there is an eclipse going on we will never see folks flocking to the shore to snap photos of the sun at noon. That’s because at noon the sun is way too bright for all but the most expensive camera lenses to capture and it’s just so ordinary. But come sunset, especially if there are clouds on the horizon, people wait with anticipation for the first colors of sunset as the sun slowly descends into the sea.

In that same way, the love of God in Christ was far too brilliant for most of His followers to receive while Jesus was healing the sick or calming seas. But at the cross as Jesus suffered and His body was wracked with agonizing pains the beauty of sunset dimmed by clouds began to be seen by unlikely candidates. One thief on a cross next to Jesus repented and received the promise of heaven. A Roman executioner believed and a young disciple was entrusted with the protection and care of Jesus’ own mother. In the sunset of His life on earth Jesus died in my place, paid the full price for our salvation and drew even fearful followers out of hiding to place Him in the tomb. How humble and kind of our Lord that He would allow Himself to die that we could see the beauty of His love in His sunset hours on Calvary!

Profit or Loss?

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Mark 8:36 ESV

Do you remember as a young person, having the idea of compound interest explained to you? It usually went something like this: “If you just put away three dollars a day for the next 40 years, you will have saved $43,800; however if you figure in the interest you will earn over those same 40 years at 5% per year you will find that you have gazillions of dollars saved for retirement!” While that seemed mind-boggling to me, I still never put it into practice until much later in life.

Jesus often talked about risk and reward. He called for his disciples to risk investing everything they owned and everything they hoped for, including their families and futures for His kingdom. It’s not that Jesus was a greedy pitchman, or a con-artist parting folks from their money. Jesus in fact said things like, “Sell all you have and give to the poor…” Mark 10:21 and “…preach the gospel to the poor…” Luke 4:18. Jesus wasn’t interested in getting their financial investments, but rather their relational investments.

How different we all would be if we lavishly invested ourselves in others as much as we do in our retirement savings? Investment means putting our principle at risk. The greater the risk, the greater the reward. Can we stop and ask ourselves the question tonight,

“Who am I willing to give my life for?” Then no matter the risk, begin to daily invest your life in them and trust in God that it will be worth more than you could imagine. But before you invest, remember that risking it all on an investment is exactly what Jesus did for us all!